Early blow to Romney as Huckabee wins West Virginia

Mitt Romney flew back from California to speak at the West Virginia caucus this morning but this personal appearance wasn’t enough to put him over the top. Romney, who led in the first round of voting, appears to have been thwarted by an alliance between McCain and Huckabee supporters—further proof of how dislike of Romney is one of the key factors in the Republican race.

The other good news for McCain from this result is that it helps Huckabee justify staying in the race and as long as he does so, Romney will have trouble fully capitalising on the discomfort of some social conservatives with McCain.

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